


Car Accidents and Comas

by SakuraBlossomStorm



Series: AU Stories [1]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: AU, Car Accident, Chance Meetings, Coma, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 22:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11587104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraBlossomStorm/pseuds/SakuraBlossomStorm
Summary: It was just supposed to be a regular day, until a car sped through a red light and almost hit Leslie.





	Car Accidents and Comas

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt -stranger pushed you out of the way of an oncoming car but ended up in a coma AU. Sent in by teen--scream.

Leslie had been warned so many times to look where she was going when she was out and about.

When she moved to Washington for work, so many people told her that it was nothing like Pawnee. It was busier, for starters, so she had to be careful at all times. But Leslie being Leslie, never seemed to pay attention to what was happening directly in front of her.

She was constantly buried in looking at emails on her phone or planning projects in her head that sometimes she wouldn’t notice that it wasn’t safe to cross the road. Multiple times she had just narrowly avoided being run over, usually it would just involve someone shouting and angrily honking their horn at her.

But today, when she was busy reading an email about her most recent National Park project, was where it all started.

Humming to herself, Leslie pressed the reply button as she was crossing the road, on her way to get a well-earned Starbucks, when she heard a shout from across the road.

“Hey! Watch out!”

She barely had time to look up when she felt two hands on her, pushing her hard and out of the way.

There was a screech of tires, and a loud crash.

~~

“Miss, you’re going to have to stay still for a second.”

Leslie looked around frantically, ignoring the paramedic. Her brain was going thirty million miles per second. She could have nearly been hit by a car. Instead, someone pushed her out of the way.

That someone took the blow for her, and was now being lifted onto a stretcher, an oxygen mask taped around his face.

“Is he… is he…” Leslie couldn’t speak. Tears were streaming down her face and she felt sick.

“Miss, please,” The paramedic said sternly. “I need to make sure you’re not concussed.”

But that was the least of her concerns right now. She had just caused a huge incident, and now someone was paying heavily for the mistakes she caused.

~~

Leslie was taken to hospital where she was checked over for any major injuries. The doctor on call let her go a few minutes later, telling her that she wasn’t concussed but to keep an eye on any headaches that might occur during the day.

Thank God Ann was there. Ann, perfect, magical Ann was on duty that day, and was her amazing, attentive nurse. She held Leslie’s hand and comforted her when she cried.

“I have to see him,” Leslie sniffled into a tissue. “I have to know he’s ok. I feel terrible. I don’t even know his name, but he saved my life.”

Ann stroked Leslie’s hair softly. “Let me go and see if I can find out anything about him. Stay here.”

She came back after a few minutes, looking solemn.

“He broke three ribs and his right leg,” Ann started. “And there was some swelling in his brain which has caused him to go into a coma.”

Leslie clapped a hand over her mouth as she sobbed. She could have made up for broken limbs with a mountain of balloons and cuddly toys, but a coma? There weren’t enough flowers in the world to apologise for a coma.

“What have I done?” She wailed, and Ann wrapped her back up into her arms.

~~

“I want to see him.”

Ann looked up at Leslie. It had been two days since the accident, and Leslie had been told to take rest of the week off to recover.

Ann came by to check up on her and ask her simple questions, like the president’s name and her birthday. Leslie, of course, answered them all perfectly.

“I’m not sure if that’s possible,” Ann admitted.

“Please?” Leslie begged. “I just need to maybe sit with him, I need him to actually know that I’m sorry, maybe it’ll be easier for me to say when he’s unable to speak.”

Ann pursed her lips. “I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t promise anything.”

Leslie pulled Ann into a hug. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

~~

“He’s in here,” Ann said, as she and Leslie stood outside of the hospital room. “It’s not a pretty sight, so you better prepare yourself.”

“I’m fine,” Leslie said, quickly pushing the door open and barging into the room. She gasped at the sight.

It was the man who saved her. He was lying in the bed, lifeless, with tubes everywhere. An oxygen mask was placed in his nostrils and there were wires coming out of his arms. Several tubes were placed inside of his mouth, and there was a low beeping noise coming from machines in the corner of the room. He was bruised all over his face and neck, and his leg was in a cast. 

Leslie swallowed as she tentatively walked around the side of the bed. He looked so peaceful, like he was just asleep, having the best sleep of his life. Not comatose. 

She sniffed. “I don’t even know his name.”

Ann pulled the chart out from the bottom of the bed. “Ben Wyatt. He’s 32, and lives in Washington.”

“Ben,” Leslie repeated. She carefully reached out and stroked his fingers. They felt warm. She was surprised, she’d thought they would’ve been cold.

“I’ll leave you alone?” Ann said, giving Leslie a friendly pat on the shoulder and leaving the room.

Leslie quietly sat in a chair by his bedside and cleared her throat. “Uh… hi. I’m Leslie Knope. You… you saved me from getting hit by that car. Only… you took the blow instead, and I’m so sorry about that. I feel so terrible, and wish I could go back to that day so that someone innocent didn’t take my place. I don’t know what to do to make it up to you. I feel helpless. But you have to know that I’m so, so sorry, Ben. You have to wake up, ok? You have to. You have a family out there I’m sure that need to know you’re ok.”

She rubbed her hands on the tops of her thighs. “My mom always said that if you want to be successful and make your dreams come true, you have to get out of bed. So… think about that, ok?”

Tears ran down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away. “I’m going to come back every day until you wake up and tell you that.”

She reached out and clung his hand again, linking her pinkie with his. “It’s a promise.”

~~

She became a permanent fixture in his room.

The nurses whispered behind her back, muttering about how she didn’t even know the guy but would visit every day. Leslie didn’t care. She had a responsibility, and wanted to be there when he woke up so she could apologise for real.

She had read books about people in comas. Apparently, they can hear their surroundings pretty well, so Ben must’ve heard her apology, still, she thought it was pretty gutless to do it while he was still out of it. She wanted to do it properly.

But, as she sat down next to him, and told him all about her day, she soon realised that there was no place that she’d rather be.

Not even in the White House with Joe Biden feeding her grapes.

At the end of her visit, she’d always cling his hand and tell him that he needed to get out of bed. And every time, she hoped that he’d listen.

~~

“It’s called a golden pothos,” Leslie explained, placing the plant on the window sill. “It’s supposed to help clean the air, which is good if you’ve been here for a long time.”

She looked over at Ben, half expecting him to answer, but he didn’t. He just lay there, the machines beeped quietly in the corner.

Leslie sighed and moved back over to his bedside. “Ann said you should wake up any day now, hopefully. She says you’re healthy enough and the swelling in your brain has stopped, which is a good thing, so well done there.”

She leaned on the bed. “You’ve just got to open your eyes now; do you think you can do that soon? Not that I want to rush you. It’s just been two weeks. And I’m getting a little worried. You could just be having a really great sleep, and don’t want to wake up. I can function without sleep, so I would’ve probably been awake days ago, but you look like the kind of person who likes to sleep in.”

She titled her head to the side. “I’ve also been having a competition with myself to guess what colour eyes you have. I think you have brown eyes, really nice deep brown eyes, like the colour of chocolate.”

Leslie grinned to herself. “I owe myself ten bucks if I’m wrong.”

She held his hand again, getting used to how it felt in her hand.

~~

“Morning, Ben – oh!”

Leslie jumped back a little when she saw a woman sitting in the corner of the room. The woman looked back up at her.

“I’m… so sorry,” Leslie quickly said, and the woman shook her off.

“It’s ok. Are you a friend of Ben’s?” The woman asked.

“Yeah,” Leslie was quick to answer. “I come here a lot.”

“That’s good,” the woman sighed. “I’m Julia Wyatt, Ben’s mother.”

Leslie felt her chest tighten. Oh god, his mother. She was sitting in front of her, wondering what the hell happened to her son, when she was the cause.

Julia sniffed. “I always used to tell him to look out for cars. Look right, look left, look right again. I drilled it into his head. This is what happens when they grow up, they think they know better.”

Leslie was sniffing at this point. “He was protecting me.”

Julia looked up at her. “I’m sorry?”

“He...it should have been me that got hit by that car. He pushed me out of the way and I guess fell in front of it. I don’t know. But he saved my life, and this is all my fault. I don’t know him, I didn’t even know his name before I came here, but he rescued me. It should be me lying in that bed, not him. It’s not fair!”

Leslie sobbed into her hands, it was all too much. No mother should see her child like this.

She jolted when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes. It was Julia. Leslie had a horrible feeling she was going to punch her.

“It’s ok, dear,” Julia said, pulling her into a warm hug. “It’s alright.”

Leslie sniffled into her shoulder. “You’re not mad?”

“No, not at all. This was just an accident. You shouldn’t feel bad, and you shouldn’t wish yourself in his place. What would your mother think?” Julia said softly.

She pulled away and looked back at Ben, “My son, my brave, valiant, foolish son. It makes it a little easier knowing that he saved you.”

“I want to make it right,” Leslie cut in. “I come here every day and talk to him so he’s not alone, and I want to apologise and everything when he wakes up, and he will wake up. I tell him that every day.”

Julia sighed and rubbed her shoulder. “I know he will.”

She looked down at her watch. “I have to go, Ben’s brother is flying in from Chicago and I need to pick him up, please can you sit with him a little longer until I get back?”

Leslie nodded, and Julia picked up her bag and walked towards the door, but she stopped, and turned back to Leslie.

“He likes Game of Thrones. There’s a copy of the book in his bag over there, he might like it if you read to him.”

Leslie quickly nodded, and pulled out a copy of ‘A Storm of Swords’ from his bag. It looked old and well read, but Leslie turned it to the first page and begun reading out loud.

~~

_‘"Drogon," she sang out loudly, sweetly, all her fear forgotten. "Dracarys." The black dragon spread his wings and roared. A lance of swirling dark flame took Kraznys full in the face.'_

Leslie’s eyes widened as she read it out loud. “Wow, I can’t believe she did that. Daenerys is amazing.”

She had read 27 chapters out loud over the course of the third week, and Ben still hadn’t stirred. But she carried on. Giving the character’s different voices as if she was reading to a child.

She turned the page, ready to continue reading. “Where was I? Ah yes-”

“Hello?”

It was barely a whisper, but Leslie heard it. Her eyes widened and she lowered the book. 

Ben was staring back at her.

“Can you tell me what’s going on please?” Ben rasped out, his eyes cracked open.

Leslie couldn’t speak, she jumped up, the book falling to the floor and pressed the button on his bedside table.

“I…you need a nurse,” Leslie quickly said. Soon, the room was filled with doctors and nurses, each of them tending to him and checking him over.

Ann was there too. “Can we have some time with him?” she asked. “Just to make sure he understands everything that happened.”

Leslie wasn’t so sure, she wanted to be there with him, to hold his hand. But she knew Ann would take care of him, she nodded and went to leave.

As she walked out of the room, she caught his eyes staring back at her.

She was right, they were brown.

~~

About an hour later, she was allowed to go back in.

“Hi,” she mumbled nervously as she walked back into the room. Ben was still lying down, the tubes around his nose still in place. He watched her as she sat down.

“I’m Leslie,” she explained. “You…you saved my life.”

“The nurse told me,” Ben replied. “She said that you’ve been coming here every day for three weeks?”

Leslie nodded. “I felt terrible. I’m so sorry this happened, you shouldn’t have pushed me out of the way.”

“I had to,” Ben replied weakly. “You would’ve been in my position otherwise.”

“Do you remember anything?” Leslie asked. “About…about the accident?”

Ben paused for a moment. “I remember…getting coffee, and then seeing someone in the road, and this green car come speeding through a red light…that’s it, that’s all I remember.”

He winced, and Leslie quickly changed the subject.

“I read that comatose patients can hear voices. I read to you and even sang to you once. But Ann told me to stop because other patients were complaining.”

Ben smirked. “What did you sing?”

“Two Become One, by The Spice Girls,” Leslie blushed.

Ben let out a low laugh. “I would’ve preferred an REM song myself.”

He stared up at the ceiling. “I remember the sound of your voice. It made me happy when I heard it. I can’t really remember words though.”

He paused again. “Wait… I remember someone telling me that I had to get out of bed soon… was that you?”

Leslie nodded. “I used to tell you every day to get out of bed to be successful, it’s something my mom would say to me.”

Ben gave Leslie a small, weak smile. “Yeah. That sounds familiar, I liked hearing that.”

Leslie felt herself blush a little. Ben, wincing slightly managed to turn her head back to her direction.

“Will you still visit me now that I’m awake?”

Leslie blinked. “Oh, yeah of course I can, if you want me to that is. I mean, I know your mom and family came to visit but I don’t know if, maybe, your girlfriend or wife did? I mean, I didn’t run into anyone else.”

“I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend,” Ben mumbled.

Leslie couldn’t help but smile at him. Suddenly, she had another reason to stay.

Ben yawned, and his eyelids droop, and Leslie went to take her bag. “I should go and let you get some rest.”

“No, wait,” Ben said, trying to take her hand, but couldn’t move. “Please stay for a little while longer?”

Leslie couldn’t say no to that, she sat back down and took his hand in hers.

He fell back asleep holding her hand.

~~

“You said you read to me,” Ben said. It was two days after he had woken up, and was slowly managing to start moving his arms and non-broken leg, but he was still bedbound.

“Yeah,” Leslie replied, who was watering the plant, which she fondly called ‘Lila.’ “I read you A Storm of Swords. Your mom said you liked the Game of Thrones books.”

“I do,” he grinned at her. “Can you still do that?”

Leslie smiled sweetly at him. “Of course.”

She pulled out the old copy and continued reading the chapters for him. Ben just watched intently as she gave all the different characters life.

“Wait,” Ben frowned. “Did I miss the part where Daenerys buys the Unsullied army?”

“Yeah,” Leslie said, looking back up at him. “Why?”

Ben sighed. “That’s my favourite part.”

Leslie quickly thumbed back to the previous chapter. “I can always re-read it. That was my favourite part too.”

She started from the beginning of the chapter, and tried not to look at the smile that was now plastered on Ben’s face.

It was kind of distracting.

~~

“So, these came from your friends at work,” Leslie said, moving a giant fruit basket attached to a helium balloon with ‘get well soon’ on the front. “It also came with a bottle of wine, but you can’t have that until you’re off your pain medication.”

“That’s nice of them,” Ben said, he was still lying down in bed, he wasn’t able to sit up yet, but Leslie could tell he was getting restless.

“What do you do for a living?” Leslie said, toying with the string on the balloon.

“I work as a political consultant, I run campaigns for candidates running for congress and such… y’know, when I’m not stuck in bed with three broken ribs and a busted leg, what about you?” Ben asked, there was a slight grin when he finished.

“That’s cool, I work for the National Parks service. It’s fun, I really like it,” Leslie said, moving to the next package.

“Oh, this came from someone called Chris. It’s just a load of vitamins and supplements,” Leslie said, picking up a bottle of B12 vitamins.

Ben chuckled, “yeah that sounds about right. He’s my best friend, I’m sure he jumped at the chance to get me to take those things.”

Leslie giggled. “If it helps, I don’t think you’ll have to take these just yet, the doctor said you can only have liquids until your ribs have healed.”

“I know,” Ben sighed. “That’s a blessing I guess, some of them are huge, Chris describes them as a choking hazard.”

Leslie wrinkled her nose and pushed them to the side. She picked up a box of chocolates from the side and checked the card. “Oh, this is from someone called April.”

“Don’t open them!” Ben said immediately. “She’s my assistant and likes to pull pranks. I’m assuming they aren’t chocolates.”

Leslie’s eyes widened and moved the box to the side. Ben looked over at the other presents.

“Hey, there’s another box over here, you’re more than welcome to have them if you want?” he said.

Leslie grinned. “I’d love some, if that’s ok?”

“Yeah, it’s fine, you said yourself that I can’t eat solids.”

Leslie eagerly tore open the box, that was sent by someone called ‘Tom’. They were delicate little chocolate truffles. She happily popped one into her mouth.

“Wow, these are so good.”

“They look amazing,” Ben said enviously.

Leslie looked down at the box, and back up at Ben. “I guess one couldn’t hurt.”

She took one from the box and stood up. Very carefully she fed Ben the chocolate and poured him a glass of water to help wash it down. Ben coughed a little, but still swallowed. 

“You ok?” Leslie asked, watching him.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just hurts a little,” Ben replied, sighing.

“Okay, maybe we’ll lay off the chocolates then,” Leslie said, setting the box back down and rubbing Ben’s hand.

“Can you read to me again?” he asked, and Leslie nodded.

“Sure.”

~~

“Hey, look who’s sitting up,” Leslie said as she walked into the room.

“I know,” Ben replied. “I even got a sponge bath and everything today, not a highlight of my life, I’ll admit.”

Leslie giggled and sat down in the chair next to his bed, the chair she always sat in.

Ben grinned at her warmly, and went back to his food. He clumsily spooned a mouthful of soup into his mouth and grimaced.

“Hospital food tastes like garbage,” he moaned, sinking back down into his pillows.

“I know, but it won’t be for much longer,” Leslie explained.

“You know what I miss,” Ben said, briefly closing his eyes. “Burgers. That’s what I want. Just a big, greasy burger, and fries.”

Leslie paused. “The doctor said that your ribs might still be damaged and that soup would be best.”

“I know she did,” Ben sighed. “But I’m sick of soup.”

Leslie couldn’t help but feel bad for him. The next day, she turned up and set her bag on a chair, and pulled out a smaller paper bag with a burger and fries in it. Ben’s eyes grew wide with wonder.

“Don’t rat me out, promise?”

“I promise,” Ben said, quickly diving into the burger. He took a bite and groaned loudly.

“Oh god this is good, I’ve missed actual food so much,” 

Leslie could only smile as she watched Ben devour the forbidden food. When he was finished, he sunk back into the pillows, full and satisfied.

“That was so good,” he murmured, a hand resting lazily on his stomach. “Thank you.”

“Hey, it’s the least I could do. Just do me a favour and eat your soup tomorrow, ok?” Leslie said, and Ben nodded.

“Maybe you could bring me a calzone next?”

Leslie scowled. “Why? Calzones are pointless.”

She cackled at the horrified look on his face.

~~

The next day when she arrived, Leslie could hear a loud raucous laughter coming from Ben’s room.

She curiously knocked on the door and pushed it open. Sat in the chair she usually resided in, was a burly looking man with a bushy beard. Underneath all that hair, he looked just like Ben.

“Hey, Leslie,” Ben said happily, looking up at her. He was smiling, it was a big toothy grin that she hadn’t seen yet.

He must really like big bushy bearded man.

“This is Henry, he’s my brother,” Ben said, and the man stood up, grasping Leslie’s hand in his and shaking it firmly.

“Hi,” Leslie said, smiling at Henry.

“Hey,” Henry beamed down at her. “Ben told me that you come to visit him a lot, that’s really nice of you.

“Oh well, this was kind of my fault so,” Leslie shrugged her shoulders.

“No, it wasn’t,” Ben said. “That jerk was speeding through a red light. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

Leslie smiled sweetly at Ben, and Henry clasped her shoulder. 

“Don’t feel bad, Benji’s a tough cookie. He’ll be fine.”

He looked back at Ben. “I have to go, but I’ll stop by tomorrow before I go to the airport. Maybe I’ll sneak you a Burger King or something.”

Leslie glared at Ben. “How many other people have you got sneaking in burgers?”

Ben held his hands up in defence. “Hey, I can eat solid foods now.”

Leslie rolled her eyes, and Henry chuckled. “Right, I’ll see you two later.”

As he left, he winked at Ben, and Leslie saw.

“He seems nice,” Leslie said, sitting down in her usual seat.

Ben nodded. “Yeah, he’s a good older brother.”

He turned to her. “How are you? Tell me all about your day.”

He played with her fingers while she relayed her day to him.

~~

“There’s one bruise here that just won’t go away,” Leslie mused as she carefully brushed some hair away from Ben’s forehead and stared at the purple abrasion. 

Ben had been in the hospital for a month now, and was able to get around with the help of a wheelchair. He and Leslie had started to go out to the hospital cafeteria and eating together. She even wheeled him out to the hospital gardens to get some fresh air.

“Yeah? Is it bad?” Ben asked.

“It just looks sore, does it hurt?” Leslie asked, very gently touching the bruise.

“No, maybe I’ll just be bruised for the rest of my life,” he grinned at her.

Leslie giggled and leaned on her hand. “Ann says that you’ll be out soon. You’ll be on crutches, but that’s ok, right?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be good to finally get out of this bed. I just want to do the little things that I’ve taken for granted. Like taking a shower. I just want to have a warm shower and cook dinner with a glass of red.”

“Soon,” Leslie reminded him.

“There’s something else I want to do, and I’ve been debating it for a long time now,” Ben said, looking up at Leslie.

“Yeah?” Leslie said, titling her head to the side.

“Yeah, I was thinking about maybe when I can walk and drive again, I should take you out on a date,” Ben said, his eyes gleaming with hope.

Leslie’s eyes widened. “Really? But… but you’re not mad at me? I mean… I’m the reason for all this, you don’t have to…”

“I want to,” Ben cut in. “I really want to.”

He carefully leaned in closer to her, his nose brushing against hers. Before Leslie could say anything else, Ben closed the gap between them, their lips joined together, finally giving them both what they wanted for weeks.

Ben pulled away. “Tell me to stop. I can’t get my heart rate up.”

Leslie shook her head, and Ben frowned.

“You want me to stop?”

“No, no,” Leslie said. “No, I mean I don’t want you to… I don’t want…oh dammit.”

She grew flustered and pressed her lips back onto his. He cupped her face and pulled her in closer, his tongue sliding through her lips.

They stayed like that until Ben’s heart monitor started beeping like crazy. Ben pulled back and sighed.

“Dammit.”

Ann soon came hurrying in and checked his monitor. “Are you ok? Do you feel funny?”

“No, I feel great,” Ben replied, smirking at Leslie, who was flattening her hair down and trying to hide the flush on her face.

Ann looked questionably between the two, then rolled her eyes. “Really?”

Leslie just innocently shrugged her shoulders.

~~

Six weeks later, Ben was finally released from hospital.

Leslie was there with him, helping fill out his discharge papers while Ben adjusted to being on crutches. Soon, they walked out to her car and Leslie helped Ben get comfortable.

“Finally,” Ben sighed as he rested his head against the rest. “I can’t believe I’m finally going home.”

“You’ve done well,” Leslie said as she climbed into the other side. “Just maybe a few more weeks on crutches and you’ll be back up and walking again.”

“Good, I’m kind of ready to go back to work, and drive…and do other things.” He winked at her, and Leslie blushed.

It would probably be another few weeks until they would be able to have sex for the first time. Leslie was already counting down the days, and she was sure Ben felt the same.

“And I can’t wait to take you out on a proper date too, not that I haven’t loved our date nights in the hospital cafeteria, but I kind of want to go to a place that doesn’t have pudding cups,” Ben said, and Leslie giggled.

“We will, but tonight, we can go back to your place, I’ll see it for the first time and then we can order pizza for dinner,” Leslie said.

“Calzones?” Ben asked, eagerly.

Leslie sighed. “Yeah, alright.”

She pulled out of the parking lot and Ben played with her fingers the entire drive back home.

Leslie couldn’t help but feel a little sad as they drove away. She was going to miss the little hospital room where she met and fell in love. But she knew that Ben was more than ready to get back to normality, so instead, she decided to look to the future.

The amazing future that she had in store.


End file.
